We’re bringing in the big guns this March with 3 international guests. On 15th March Kiko Navarro (our exclusive international resident DJ) returning after a storming set on new years eve. March also see’s two new faces coming to the UAE, both of which have been on our wishlist for a very long time. 1st March see’s Room 26 resident DJ and Italian house music legend – Luis Radio making his UAE debut & on 29th March we welcome Atjazz to 360º for the very first time, he’s taking time out of his busy studio and festival schedule to come and play for us which we’re extremely excited about!

For more information the artists please click on their names below:

Luis Radio (Room 26, Italy)

1st March 2012 – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

Kiko Navarro (King Street Sounds, Spain)

15th March 2012 – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

Atjazz (Atjazz Record Company, UK)

29th March 2012 – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

The season seems to be flying by, and before we know it we’ll be into the warmer months of March and April (look out for the line ups coming soon on these, they won’t disappoint!). As we head into Feb we’re excited to be bringing 3 special events to the UAE. 1 international guest at two venues and 1 special one off party at 360º, see below for details.

Peter Oakden (Soul Free Records, UK)

16th February – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai
17th February – Sea Lounge, Monte-Carlo Beach Club, Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi

Eclectic Circle – 25 years of house with Buff Wise.

Join Buff Wise as he celebrates 25 years in the house music industry with an extended 6 hour set at the decks of 360º. Expect everything from 1987 to date.

25th February – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

Image courtesy of Kirill Fedorov & Video courtesy of DJ Soulfisher.

If you missed out on our FREE cd giveaway at our recent Christmas Party at 360º then you are now in for a belated Christmas present from us. We’ve now uploaded the mix for everyone to listen and download. Track list is below:

MustHaveSoul Xmas 2011 mixed by Simon Reid

1 – Bucie – Get Over It (Ezel Remix)
2 – Martin East Project – Wisdom Of A Million Years (Groove Assassin Remix)
3 – Zepherin Saint – Midnight Mawal (Vocal Mix)
4 – Black Motion – Banana Mavoko (Real Clap)
5 – Timmy Regisford feat. Lynn Lockamy – At The Club (Rocco Deep Mix)
6 – T3n – Live 4 Now (Original Mix)
7 – Kings Of Tomorrow feat April – Take Me Back (Atjazz Afrotech Remix)
8 – DJ Sabelo – Prayer Drums (Drummapella Mix) Acapella – Roland Clark – Presidents House
9 – Maya Jane Coles – Simple Things
10 – Osunlade – Envisions (Ame Remix)

Both audio tonic and MustHaveSoul are known for bringing the most innovative and forward thinking acts in the region. They both play a very unique but similar sound and interlink perfectly, which is why on 31st December 2011 they will join forces and bring 2 of their most sought after and popular guests… JIMPSTER & KIKO NAVARRO with support from Mr Mr, Simon Reid & Tristan Bain.

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS ONLINE.

8pm – LATE / 21+
AED 500 (includes a glass of bubbly & canapés)
Tickets also available in person at Jumeirah Beach hotel Festive Desk.
Call 04 348 0000 (and ask for the festive desk) or 056 682 6617 (after 3pm) for more details and table bookings.

If you’d like to do NY in style and requirre a table @ 360º, please call 056 682 6617 daily from 3pm where a member of the reservation team will be happy to assist.

We’ve saved some of the best til last as we head into the final month of the year. We’ve had another amazing year and we’re pushing bigger and better for 2012 with more events and bigger DJs in the pipeline. For the time being we’re extremely happy to be welcoming back one of our favourites from last season – KARIZMA on 1st December plus we’re having a special Residents Xmas party on 15th December before we concentrate all of our efforts on the big one – New Years Eve – More details coming on this very special event in a separate post.

Karizma (R2 Records, USA)

1st December – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

Baltimore’s own house don, in the form of Kohesive recordings main man Karizma. Karizma’s musical career started with him djing at age 13, doing various fashion shows and college parties. He landed a radio show on Baltimore’s college radio station WEAA, playing hip hop and at the same time was playing at various clubs around the city showing an obvious love for house music. Around this time he would often bump into DJ Spen and bug him for advice. As fate would have it Spen and Karizma would work together at radio station V103. This prompted the two to work together on Spen’s 1st Jasper street company album project. Karizma contributed the song E.B.W.2.R.T.W (Everybody wants 2 rule the world) and did drum programming on the track “Temptation”.

After this Spen & Karizma worked on Kim English’s “Tommorrow”, Mary J Blige’s “Beautiful”, Kenny Bobien’s “Let me show you” and SuSu Bobien’s “Thank you”… the rest is history. Spen and Karizma (now with Basement Boys productions), went on to remix Everything but the Girl, Amira, Lenny Kravitz, Ann Nesby, Ron Carroll, Roy Ayers, Boris Dlugosh, Bob Sinclar, Kathy Brown, Jocelyn Brown and Ministers de la Funk to name a few. It was in these remixes Karizma developed the “deepah dubs” and “deepah ones” moniker for his rendition of the remixes.

Flashing forward… after a healthy career of remixes and productions, Karizma struck out on his own a formed Kohesive Productions. His first production “Samma Ganni” was released on Basement boys imprint “Elphunk”. His remixes, credits and productions are heard weekly at the “Sky Lounge” bar on Thursdays, his residency in Baltimore. Many of his productions have championed the likes of Louie Vega, Simon Dunmore, Dj Spinna, Marques Wyatt, Tony Humphries and many more.

Karizma is also an accomplished international DJ, one of the most innovative on the scene, who is known for destroying the Powerhouse room at the legendary Southport Weekender in 2006, and the rest is indeed history….

MustHaveSoul Xmas Residents Party

15th November – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

DJs: Simon Reid, Tristan Bain, Conan Liquid & Dan Chadwick.

After celebrating an amazing second birthday party with DJ Spen we’re now looking forward to our next guest landing on the shores of the UAE. On 11th November we celebrate the Grand Prix being back in Abu Dhabi with Parisian house maestro – DJ Yass. No stranger to playing at MustHaveSoul parties Yass is the perfect choice for our ultra chic Sea Lounge parties at Monte-Carlo Beach Club, Saadiyat. CLICK HERE for more info on the event.

Today is officially our 2nd birthday so we thought we’d say a few thanks to the people that have been there with us for the past two years. It’s not been an easy task both of us holding down day jobs and working on something that we both love so much. MustHaveSoul has become part of both of our lives in a huge way, we’ve made alot of sacrifices, had some amazing parties, made some amazing friends, even argued a bit but all in the pursuit of bringing the best soulful dance music to the Middle East.

First off we want to thank all the people who until the end of last season came out every Saturday to party with us on a school night, now we’ve moved to a Thursday slot we’re happy that you all don’t have to go to work the next day, we’d also like to thank everyone who has comes to our events in Abu Dhabi for the past year, its a tough city to crack but we honestly now feel we have the right venue with Monte-Carlo Beach Club, Saadiyat to do so.

Now to the DJs. To all of our resident djs, you are stars in your own right, dedicated to all things MustHavesoul. For this we thank you and hope for many more adventures with you all. To all the international guests we’ve had we thank you for bringing your own unique blends of style, flair and music to our parties in particular we have to thank Kiko Navarro (our international resident), you are a star and we always seem to have the best parties when you come to town, to name a remix after our night was the icing on the cake, you have become a true friend!

Lastly… Thank you to our venues, who have us play every week, your support has been amazing and we’re in this not to let you down.

Here’s just a reminder of our party tonight (03/11) at 360º with Baltimore legend – DJ Spen. A man who’s been our wish list from day one and we’ve finally got him to celebrate this great milestone! Click here for more info.

Thanks and big love
Paul & Simon
MustHaveSoul

November is a special month for us at MustHaveSoul as we’ll be celebrating our 2nd birthday. To do so in style we’ve managed to book a two fo our favourtite DJ/Producers. See below for an outline of who they are. Exciting times are ahead!

DJ Spen (Code Red Recordings, USA)

3rd November – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

DJ SPEN BIOGRAPHY:
DJ Spen began his career at the age of 13, producing mix shows for WEBB AM in Baltimore. Even at that young age, Spen founded one of the area’s first hip hop production groups, the Numarx. In 1986 they wrote and recorded a track called ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ which was later covered and made famous by Milli Vanilli.

Spen’s radio career continued to grow and lead him to a radio career working at various FM radio stations in the Baltimore and Washington areas. In 1992, Spen developed a mixshow on 95.9 FM in Baltimore called the Flashback Saturday Night Dance Party. Though Spen eventually moved on from radio, the show is still a hit today, with Spen’s close friend KW Griff at the helm.

Spen’s production talents lead him to Basement Boys Records in 1989. With the formation of The Basement Boys record label in 1994, Spen formed Jasper Street Company, and released his first full production, ‘A Feelin’. With the Basement Boys and Jasper Street, Spen gained consistent commercial and dancefloor success, and became an in-demand remix producer. He has created remixes for some of clubland’s biggest names, such as Diana Ross, Everything but the Girl, Ann Nesby, and Shaun Escoffery. While at Basement Boys, Spen partnered with Teddy Douglas, Thommy Davis and Karizma to create works that are still considered house anthems.

Having reached his full potential with Basement Boys, Spen stepped out on his own and partnered with Gary Deane at Code Red Recordings in January 2004. He hasn’t stopped moving since! Spen is still producing and making records that are sure to become legend. He has formed a new group called the MuthaFunkaz whose first release, ‘The Best I Can’ shows a new side of Spen. Spen’s new venture has found him back with former partners Thommy Davis and Karizma creating the successful ‘Voodoo Ray’ and ’4 the Love’ respectively. His new Spiritually Sound label will be sure to give Spen fans more of the gospel and inspirational house music Spen has become famous for.

With a career span of more than 20 years and his famous studio and production work, Spen has become one of the most sought-after DJs in the U.S. Today, Spen can be found jetting off to gigs at some of the premier clubs around the world while juggling his demanding studio work and time with his new baby . He plays regularly in the UK, as well as France, Italy, Japan, and Australia.

Check out www.djspen.com for more information on his prolific history and releases.

Boddhi Satva (Offering Recordings/Vega Records, C.A.R)

17th November – 360º, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

BODDHI SATVA BIOGRAPHY:
Hailing from Central African Republic (C.A.R.), Boddhi Satva vowed early in his career to make a statement through a signature sound of his own. Ancestral Soul was born. When music is the soundtrack of universal rituals – birth, graduation, marriage, and ancestorship, that’s Ancestral Soul; when music is simultaneously an tense argument between passionate lovers, a intense freestyle session between- or a revolutionary political speech by live instruments – kora, piano, sax, flute, congas, cello, balafon and turntables, that’s Ancestral Soul; when music takes over the night, positive energy is in the air and the mysteries of the unseen come out, that’s Ancestral Soul; when music conquers spirits, electrifies bodies and no word is needed to seduce, to serenade, to heal, to love and to share, that’s Ancestral Soul; when deep house music has modern Congolese rumba as wife, West African voices as mistresses, and urban R&B and Afro-cuban rhythms as occasional girlfriends, that’s Ancestral Soul.

Boddhi Satva subsequently became a demanded remixer as “Ancestral Soul” versions of mainstream tracks won over club audiences across the globe, in addition to recognition from connoisseurs and tastemakers. Osunlade’s Yoruba Records, Bob Sinclar’s Yellow Productions, Peter Adarkwah’s BBE Music, Tony Humphries’s Yelloworange are just a few music labels among many that released Boddhi’s productions. In 2007 he launched Offering Records. It serves as the perfect place where he defies boundaries with innovative formulas and where promising singers and aspiring producers from different parts of the world find a launching pad.

2011 will see the release of the debut album INVOCATION on Vega records, the label of Grammy award winning producer “Little” Louie Vega. The latter hand-picked Boddhi in 2008 to be an elite producer for Vega Records and a resident of Vega DJ tours.

Invocation confirms the solid place that Boddhi established for himself in the house music landscape. It is an ode to the ritual dimension and the spiritual power of music. It is a kaleidoscope that reflects the layers, nuances, colours, impressions and transformations that one experiences in life. See, Boddhi Satva is dedicated to master his craft, to rejuvenate the treasures of contemporary music, and to challenge himself with the dialogue between his rich musical heritage and the musical influences originating from his voyages and performances in nightclubs in Mali, club tours in USA, open-air dancefloors in South Africa, beach parties in Spain and high-profile venues in the UK. The song “Ngnari Konon” featuring Oumou Sangare, Mali’s great diva, gives a clear idea of where Boddhi Satva is taking audiences: generous and extravagant music that tells real life stories as well as makes people give their whole self up to limitless and code-stripped styles of dance – ritualistic, erotic, ecstatic, jubilant. Invocation is coming!